Just what is the cost to buy off the Sierra Club—once
the most respected environmental organization in
America?

A low nine figure sum does the job according to theLos Angeles Times in its story last fall about
David Gelbaum, one of the key funders of the
112-year-old environmental organization. ["The
Man Behind the Land" by Kenneth R. Weiss, Oct.
17, 2004]

A nice round $100 million was enough for Executive
Director Carl Pope to toss the principles of honesty,
democracy and conservation out the window.

After all, the 1996 switch from
common sense to political correctness was an abrupt
change from the
earlier position that the Club should work to
"bring about the stabilization of the population first
of the United States and then of the world."

Our suspicions were correct. The LA Times
article revealed that shadowy funder Gelbaum donated
generously on condition that the Sierra Club not address
immigration as an environmental issue.

Said Gelbaum, "I did tell [Sierra Club
Executive Director] Carl Pope in 1994 or 1995 that if
they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never
get a dollar from me."

The story continued:

“Gelbaum, who reads the
Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión and is
married to a Mexican American, said his views on
immigration were shaped long ago by his grandfather,
Abraham, a watchmaker who had come to America to escape
persecution of Jews in Ukraine before World War I.

” `I asked, `Abe, what do you think about all of these
Mexicans coming here?` `Gelbaum said. `Abe didn`t speak
English that well. He said, `I came here. How can I tell
them not to come?“

"I cannot support an organization that is
anti-immigration. It would dishonor the memory of my
grandparents."

Gelbaum`s reasoning is patently anti-environmental.
It assumes that this country can absorb millions of new
foreign residents annually who come with dreams of
American level consumption.

Thoughtful conservationists balance past values
versus a future reality of a population explosion most
could not imagine a hundred years ago.

What if Grandaddy Abe had been a slave-owner, deeply
worried about who would pick the cotton come
emancipation?

And surely Gelbaum`s grandfather could not have
foreseen the invasion of millions of illegals, largely
from Mexico. And if
safety for Jews is still an issue as it was for
Gelbaum`s Ukrainian forebears, then the
"strongly anti-Semitic" views of 44 percent of
foreign-born Hispanics should be of great concern.

Gelbaum may be unwittingly supporting the increase of
anti-Semitism in America which his grandfather sought to
escape.

But Carl Pope obviously answered with an immediate,"No problema!"

As the Club`s #1 honcho, Carl Pope is a well-paid
fellow, receiving a
salary of $141,704 and benefits of $16,995 as of a
couple years ago.

A firehose revenue stream assures the Sierra Club`s
financial health and continued fat paychecks for Pope,
so there is a personal benefit to this arrangement as
well.

Pope sits on the Board of
Wildland Conservancy, which is also funded
generously by Gelbaum and his brother Daniel. The LA
Times article lauded Gelbaum`s impressive purchases
of land to be conserved, 1,179 square miles of scenic
country, and his contributions to conservation education
so that poor children could see what wilderness actually
looks like.

So the Sierra Club`s soul was sold for some very nice
trees and mountains, and thousands of underprivileged
kids got the outdoors experience so valued by hiking
enthusiasts.

That may be a fine short-term bargain if you are
essentially corrupt anyway and have the political
wheel-and-deal mentality in which everything has a
price.

But consider a different example of questionable
money offered for a worthy cause.

In 2001, a Saudi sheik presented $10 million dollars
to Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the terrorist attacks. That
money could have gone a long way toward rebuilding New
York City. But the mayor felt the
moral cost was unacceptable and the money was
refused. The honor of a great city was not for sale.

What`s up with these extramural activities? Does the
Sierra Club no longer need a full time Executive
Director?

When it became clear to the Sierra Old Guard that
population realists might take control of the Board, the
mega-dollars of the hardball left-wing were brought in
to defend the Gelbaum ideology—which conveniently
coincides with many on the globalist left and the
Democratic Party.

The Gelbaum scandal has fatally compromised the
management of the Sierra Club.

Interestingly,
Pope has written eloquently on the corrupting
influence of money in politics. As the motto goes:
“Campaign finance for thee, but not for me.”

Brenda
Walker [email
her] has been a
member of the Sierra Club since 1984. This evening, she
is watching the
shadows of low-slung creatures as she celebrates
Groundhog Day with the traditional Bushmills, in
anticipation of glorious spring in northern California.